Lochcarron Community Development Company is a community run organisation. Managing local woodlands, creating affordable housing, running Café Ceàrdach, a tree house, cultural, environmental and heritage projects, training and employment, for local sustainability.

The Community Woodlands Association is the umbrella organisation for Community Woodland projects in Scotland. The weekend of 1st & 2nd September 2012, was their annual conference in the Scottish Borders. which coincided with the 25th anniversary celebrations of Wooplaw Community woodland, the first Community woodland in Britain. The events were a fantastic opportunity for projects and organisations across Scotland to get together and exchange information, ideas and inspiration. A range of speakers covered subjects from legislation and land reform, foraging, health benefits of working outdoors, the arts in the woodlands, forest gardening, juggling commercial and community forestry, woodland crofting and much more. Each community has its own needs, own strengths and own solutions, when a community can work together and manage its own projects it has a knock on positive impact on many aspects of community life. Getting together with others who have discovered through experience what works and the best way to gain and manage community woodlands is a vital support to organisations who are generally run on a voluntary basis by dedicated and overworked passionate individuals. The very real social benefits of Community woodlands go hand in hand with economic benefits also heritage, culture and health needs can all be served by getting people working together, and getting back outdoors. Working in harmony with our natural environments is not a luxury but a necessary for sustainable communities.
below are some photographs from the conference weekend.